CBS This Morning

Will Northwestern football union lead to paying college athletes?

The football team at Northwestern
University is leading a fight off the field. Players are filing papers to
create the first labor union for college athletes. They want to ensure safety, and they want to be paid.

For the last three years,
quarterback Kain Colter was a leader on the field at Northwestern University, and on Tuesday he led something very different - the charge to unionize college
sports.

NCAA rules prohibit
athletes from being paid to play, but they can receive compensation in the form
of scholarships and living expenses.

CBS News’ Michelle Miller
asked Colter whether that was enough.

“We're very grateful for
the education that we get, and we put in hard work to obtain the degree at the end of the day,” he said. “There are essential rights and benefits that
we're missing out on.”

Colter says athletes are
missing out on fully funded athletic scholarships, due process for alleged NCAA
violations and guaranteed coverage for medical expenses for current and former
players.

“You have to think down
the line. These are our lives, and we want to make sure that we're protected,” he said.

In order to be recognized
as a union, the players have to prove they're employees of the university, a claim the NCAA flatly rejects, saying in a statement, “This ... attempt
to turn student-athletes into employees undermines the purpose of college: an
education. Student-athletes are not employees, and their participation in
college sports is voluntary."

Ramogi Huma played
football at UCLA and has fought for college athletes' rights for more than 15
years.

“We're not advocating for
professional-type salaries. You're admitted to the school because you can play
ball,” said Huma. “So these schools explicitly bring them in to provide a
service athletically.”

DeMaurice Smith, head of
the NFL Players Association, told the “CBS This Morning” co-hosts that his “hat's off
to the players at Northwestern and indeed their quarterback, Kain Coulter,” and
said the real question is not whether the players will be paid but “what’s the best way
for college athletes to protect their rights."

“That’s always going to be
through collective action,” he said. “So whether it’s the sleeping car porters
from years ago, whether it’s the women’s movement in order to attain the right
to vote, you can only do that if you can collectively come together to protect
your rights.”

He said that he thinks the
Northwestern students make a “great case” for a union.

“You can play a college
sport and leave with injuries that aren’t covered by any sort of insurance,” he
said.

The National Labor
Relations Board will hold a hearing Feb. 7 to determine the fate of the
union.